One of my "goals" for this quarter is going to be "Improve Happiness at Work" and I challenge all of you to have the same goal. Will it benefit the company? Absolutely! Not only will you improve your own health and mood, but it's proven that productivity increases and that happiness "spreads" to the people you are around.
Originally, when I thought of adding this to my goal set, I thought it would be really tough to measure, not only happiness, but whether or not productivity improved. Those are tough things to measure. Luckily, there have already been many reputable studies done that have proven that a happier workplace means good business.
This article written exactly a year ago, challenges readers to resolve to make their workplace a happier place. Here are some of the stats given:
- There is extensive evidence showing the health benefits of happiness. The evidence that positive emotions contribute to better health and longer life is stronger than that linking obesity to reduced longevity. [2] Happy people are also significantly less likely to catch the cold virus than their less happy peers. [3]
- Human happiness has significant causal effects on labour productivity. In a recent study, one group had an intervention which increased their happiness levels, while those in a control group did not. Treated subjects were found to have 12% greater productivity in a paid task. [4]
- Happier organisations outperform their competitors. A study looked at the stock market performance of the "100 Best Workplaces" in the US (based on positive feedback from employees about working there) over a 12 year period from 1998 to 2010. The Best Workplaces achieved an average annual return of 10%, outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index which returned an average of only 3.8% over the same period. [5]
- Three important factors for satisfying work are: Mastery (doing work which is challenging but which you can manage successfully), Control (having enough discretion in how you do the job) and Purpose (the feeling that what you do is worthwhile and part of some wider whole). [6]
- Our happiness influences the people we work with and the people they know. Research shows that the happiness of a close contact increases the chance of being happy by 15%. The happiness of a 2nd-degree contact (e.g. friend's friend) increases it by 10% and the happiness of a 3rd-degree contact (e.g. friend of a friend of a friend) by 6%. [7]
What ways can you contribute to a happier work place in 2014? Leave a comment with your ideas.
References
[1] Mercer (2011), "What's Working" survey
[2] Diener, E., Chan, M.Y., Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity, Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing, 2011
[3] Cohen, S et al, Positive Emotional Style Predicts Resistance to Illness After Experimental Exposure to Rhinovirus or Influenza, Psychosomatic Medicine, 2006
[4] Oswald, A.J., Proto, E., Sgroi, D (2009), Happiness and Productivity, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
[5] Russell Investment Group for Fortune Magazine (2011), How does trust affect the bottom line?
[6] Pink, D. (2009), Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead.
[7] J.H. Fowler and N.A. Christakis, Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years, British Medical Journal, December 2008
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